General Motors and Nissan both made good on their promises to deliver mass-produced electric cars with the debuts of the Chevrolet Volt and the Nissan Leaf this year. Sales for both have been small so far due to limited production and availability, but December numbers reveal that the hybrid plug-in Volt outsold the battery-powered Leaf by a factor of 16 to 1.

After the Associate Press reported that GM sold between 250 and 350 Volts last month, the company tweeted that the official number was 326. Meanwhile, Nissan sold less than twenty Leafs. Production volumes for both vehicles will continue to increase over the coming months, and by mid-year, they’ll be available nationwide. But if you’re interested in buying one, put your name on the list now — it’s already 50,000 people long.

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3 Comments

SeawolfJanuary 7, 2011 at 12:29 am

Both numbers and timeframe WAY too small to be meaningful. Volt is going to get a boost from fleet sales, but in a few years we’ll know which one of these two sells better. It’s the rare $33K car (if any) that outsells a $25K car, simple as that.

lazyreaderJanuary 6, 2011 at 7:57 am

Might the reason the Volt sell so well is simply because it looks so much more like an ordinary car. The Leaf looks more like that cute, conceptual stuff that we always see in Japan. Ironically both vehicles will be assembled in the US. And the Leaf doesn’t have the great PR campaign of it’s competitor. Unlike Tesla these are the only 2 vehicles that seem within reach to workaday folk.

gbondyJanuary 4, 2011 at 4:13 pm

Well, the title of this article may be true – but only serves as an example of how statistics can lie.

Since the supply of one item was completely constrained and was not in the other, the number sold is irrelevant as a determination of popularity as this article seems to imply.